Financial Housekeeping before my 1st Investment Property

[Kyle J. Cooper]

It's been a long time coming. All the time spent day dreaming over getting out of debt, building up savings for a down payment, and investing in that first property. Ahhh 2020 was that year! Then this thing called COVID-19 came around(Socialism for some of you conspiracy theorists), and wrecked many people's plans. I was one of those people, but I haven't given up hope, just yet!

The last few years have been productive to say the least. Personally I've gone from broke and in 90K in student loan debt(but still with a Bachelor's Degree), to increasing income 5X and being completely out of debt in my early 30s. My overall desire has been to enter REI from a position of strength, and once this pandemic hit and so many people lost their income(myself included) it seems to have put my plans on temporary hold.

Personally I have 6 months worth of expenses in an emergency fund, as well as enough for a down payment on a house hack, excellent credit, and before this pandemic had a fantastic DTI (I was hoping to use this to my advantage with lending). What are my options here? Do I need to find other creative ways for financing or should I just find another W-2 in order to qualify for more traditional lending? Partner with someone who would qualify for a mortgage and just bring the down payment?

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks BP and keep spreading Love

[John Warren]

@Kyle J. Cooper that really stinks that you have been put in a tough spot, but if I were you I would focus on getting the W-2 back in order so you can invest from a position of strength. Once you have the W-2, I would look to start investing immediately. You have done the hard work of getting out from under bad debt, and you should be set to start taking calculated risks so you can eventually exit the rat race.